Richard Childress Racing, which put only one of its three drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and has not won at the Cup level this season, has hired Eric Warren as its new competition director.

Warren, who holds a doctorate in aerospace engineering, has spent more than a decade in the NASCAR garage working for a variety of teams, including Penske-Kranefuss Racing, Evernham Motorsports, Michael Waltrip Racing and most recently Richard Petty Motorsports.

Warren replaces Scott Miller, who left the team a year ago for MWR. Kent Day had assumed those duties in addition to his duties as technical director.

RCR driver Kevin Harvick, who is 10th in the standings and the only RCR driver to make the Chase, said Warren’s hiring has filled a void.

“You hear us preach all the time, this sport is really all about people,” Harvick said. “I think for us having Eric in that position will lead to some structure and some focus on a lot of things that we need to get better at.

“Just having somebody there on a daily basis is going to be a step in the right direction. Now it's all about putting a system into place that everybody buys into to lead everybody on a day-to-day basis and hopefully make things better.”